Beirut - Joy engulfed the families Wednesday of four Lebanese generals who were held for nearly four years without charges over the 2005 assassination of prime minister Rafik Hariri, after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (SFL) called for their release.

The four generals are Jamil Sayyed, the General Security chief and probably the most powerful Lebanese under Syrian dominance, police chief Ali Hajj, army intelligence chief Raymond Azar, and the head of the Presidential Guard Brigade, Mustafa Hamdan.

The Hague/Beirut - A UN tribunal on Wednesday ordered the immediate release of four former Lebanese generals detained for four years without charge in connection with the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Daniel Fransen, the pre-trial judge of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), announced the decision in The Hague, where the court is based.

Beirut - The Lebanese press on Wednesday reflected hope after the inauguration speech of US president Barack Obama.

The daily An Nahar in a front page editorial said, "Tuesday was a turning point in the world," while the daily As Safir said, "Barak Hussein Obama president ... to reconcile America with itself and the world."

"Finally (George W) Bush has left the White House and will enter history books for carrying out four wars and leaving four Muslim Arab countries hanging between life and death," analyst Sateh Noureddine wrote in As Safir.